Tuesday, 21 December 2010

Senso-Ji Temple, Asakusa

Up and off out; decided not to bully our feet and instead got an all day metro pass each.

First item on the Agenda - visiting the Senso-Ji Temple; this has to be the most amazing, and dramatic building seen so far. It's a beautiful shade of burnt red with gold accents, and surrounded by many other smaller shrines, a 5-tier pagoda, and many statues. Absolutely teaming with people, it's still used as a practising temple; visitors were washing their mouths using the well, then cleansing themselves with incense before entering the temple for guidance.

Col made his offering and took part in a fortune telling ritual; it included donating a coin, shaking a metal container which deposited you with a stick, then having to match the stick to a drawer which contains the fortune paper. Will decide later on the accuracy of the fortune....

The walkway to the Temple is a massive shopping channel of people selling souvenir gifts and clothing. It seems a little out of place for such a calming religious spot, but worked in harmony nonetheless.

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HERE WE GO TO TOKYO

Hi Everyone, It's finally happening ... we're off to Tokyo !

The day has arrived, we're being picked up tonight by a taxi at around 1am and down to Heathrow. The weather has been threatening to cock everything up all week, but fingers crossed we should be ok ... as long as the airport know how to deal with Ice & Fog :-|

We're going to write this blog every day and hope that you will visit regularly and check out the sights and sounds of Tokyo. We're taking camera's & sound recorders and we plan to make video's for Youtube etc .... SO KEEP COMING BACK !